Hofmann, Leopold (1738-1793)

The present work, composed no later than 1762, the year Gttweig monastery acquired a copy, is a fine example of Hofmann's four-movement symphony structure in miniature. Its portentous Adagio introduction seems at odds with the tiny Allegro molto which follows although it contains a number of subtle thematic links with the Andante central movement. This edition is based on a set of contemporary manuscript parts preserved in the archive of Pcs Cathedral in Hungary under the shelfmark H144 FM4 120044; no autograph score or authentic set of parts is known to survive. The only significant editorial changes made in the work are the creation of internal repeats in the first and second movements. The style and notation of articulation and dynamic markings have been standardised throughout, and, where missing from the source, reconstructed from parallel passages. These are indicated by the use of dotted slurs or brackets. Like most eighteenth-century sources, the present manuscript is inconsistent in its notation of appoggiature; these too have been standardised to minimise confusion. Obvious wrong notes have been corrected without comment; editorial emendations with no authority from the source are placed within brackets. Allan Badley